During this year’s Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event (13-17 November), the industry strand of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Cineuropa spoke to Chiara Zappalà, who is currently managing the European Film Factory (EFF) project for the Institut français. The initiative focuses on film literacy and is being backed by the MEDIA strand of the Creative Europe programme. On 14 November, Zappalà also moderated a workshop titled “Sharing Film Literacy Experiences and Good Practices Using European Film Factory in Class”, aimed at raising awareness of the importance of film education and film literacy in schools.

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Cineuropa: How would you describe the European Film Factory platform and its main mission?
Chiara Zappalà: The European Film Factory has been created to advance film education across Europe. It was initiated as part of the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme and was developed by the Institut français, in collaboration with two partners: ARTE Education, a subsidiary of the European television channel ARTE that created the digital educational service Educ’Arte, and European Schoolnet, a non-profit organisation consisting of 34 European Ministries of Education. The programme offers an innovative and practical approach to supporting film education in Europe. It provides a catalogue of European heritage feature films and contemporary short films, along with educational resources, to European students aged from 11-25, their teachers, professors and cultural mediators. It also comprises a series of master classes and webinars.

Where is the platform currently available, and what type of content can users access?
The platform is accessible in the 38 Member States taking part in the Creative Europe programme, offering content in nine languages: German, French, English, Greek, Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Italian and Croatian.

Could you please zoom in on the platform’s educational resources and interactive tools for us?
The European Film Factory provides innovative tools centred on film. Each movie is accompanied by a ready-to-use educational kit, created by the EFF Focus Group, consisting of 12 European teachers, enabling the analysis of the film and the organisation of related classroom activities. The platform also offers three generic kits written by European film literacy and media experts. The first is a general educational kit providing tools for film analysis and mediation with a young audience, along with definitions of key terms in cinematic language. The second is a screening kit with advice and resources for organising screenings and master classes with European Film Factory in cinema clubs and festivals, covering programming, communication, technical projection tips and guidance for moderating discussions. The third is the Eco-conscious Charter, which offers useful hints and tips on maximising the platform’s use and enhancing projects from a sustainability perspective. Additionally, the platform allows users to extract film scenes, annotate them – using image, sound or text – name them and work on them, either in class or at home. Users can also create mind maps linking different films to various class themes.

What were the most interesting insights shared during the workshop on film literacy held at Tallinn?
During the workshop held as part of the Just Film Industry Days at Tallinn Black Nights, two teachers from the EFF Focus Group, Anamaria Ghiban from Romania and Margareta Đordić from Croatia, shared with a dozen Estonian teachers the best practices for implementing film literacy activities in class using the EFF catalogue of films and pedagogical resources.

What are the platform’s long-term goals?
The long-term goals encompass reaching a broader audience of students across Europe, and fostering an appreciation for the richness and diversity of European cinema. Additionally, it aims to encourage increased attendance levels at cinemas and to rekindle the passion for film among the European audience.